Puppy Love
by kykygotloki'd
Summary: What happens when Clint Barton's day out turns into a surprise "recruitment"? Avengers one-shot


Agent Clint Barton was normally a calm, serious man, never really joking around. I mean, come on, he's a freaking agent! The reason why he was STILL an agent was because after years of harsh training and deadly missions, Clint knew how to control his emotions. However, for some reason, today seemed like a good day to let go. Maybe it was the beautiful weather, maybe it was the fact that Fury had given the whole team a week off. Either way, today seemed like a good day for Clint to have a little fun.

"Hey Tin-Man, I'm going out. Need anything for the troops?" Clint asked a very busy Tony Stark, leaning against one of the many desks in the billionaire's lab. Tony was currently working on one of his many Iron Man suit prototypes, with the help of J.A.R.V.I.S. and Dummy.

"Nah, I'm good Bird Brains. You might wanna ask Point Break, though. Remember last time Steve forgot to get him mint chocolate chip ice cream?" Tony replied. Both men shuttered at the memory, recalling the damages done by the Norse god. A plasma TV punched in half, a couch snapped into pieces and a VERY upset Nick Fury. Clint nodded to himself and proceeded to the elevator which took him up to the lounge area. He walked in, seeing the rest of the super team lying about.

Bruce was on one of his many tablets, probably researching something or other. Steve was making himself a huge sandwich with practically everything on it. Natasha was busy on her laptop (on her Tumblr. page most likely) And Loki and Thor were sitting on the new couch, watching season two of 'The Walking Dead'. Ever since Tony showed them the first episode, they'd been hooked.

"Hey guys, I'm going out into town for a few hours. Need anything?" the agent asked, looking around at the group. Everyone muttered 'no' and Clint inwardly sighed. He did NOT want to be this weeks delivery boy (every week, someone new had to go get groceries. It was a job no one looked forward to) The assassin grabbed his sunglasses, keys and one of the many mix CD's he had laying around. He took the elevator to the bottom level and walked out into the almost empty parking lot. Besides for his two-door black Jeep, Tony's Ferrari, Steve's bike and Bruce's truck were the only cars present, all with their own parking spaces.

Clint hopped into the Jeep, started it up and shoved the CD in the player, beginning to drive down the busy street to the downtown district. The first track that came on was "Locked Out of Heaven" by Bruno Mars. Furrowing his brows, Clint looked at the case for the CD and groaned: it was one of Natasha's. The track list included "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" by Taylor Swift, "Stupid Hoe" by Nicki Manaj and "Started From the Bottom" by Drake, pretty much all of the worst songs in the modern world. Barton kept driving, hoping that he would get to the market VERY soon.

-Time Skip-

Clint squealed into a parking spot as fast as he could, turning off the vehicle at once. Just how stupid was this hoe to make Nicki Manaj say it more than once? Locking the doors, Clint looked around and smiled to himself: he had come to the right place. The market was in the North half of the parking lot and didn't take up a lot of space; it was only about twelve vendors or so. Every so often, just to get out of the Avengers Tower, Agent Barton liked coming here on Sundays just to look around. Even though training always helped him get some time to himself, Clint liked doing normal-person things as well. It had been a year since the attack on New York and the assassin had since decided that a little bit of normal was good.

He walked up to the first table and grinned down at the contents: jewelry. Usually, Natasha didn't wear jewelry unless on a mission, and that was usually overly-girly stuff. This jewelry, however, was cool, homemade stuff. Clint picked up a bracelet and smiled even more. It was a leather, drawstring bracelet with a gold arrow charm on it. "_  
Perfect _" he thought, paying the small lady behind the table two dollars.

Walking a bit further, the man came across another stand that caught his eye: pets. There was an elder man, about 65 years old, sitting on a rickety wood chair, a small tin at his feet. Behind him were several cages, all with different animals. Now as I said before, training for years has made Clint Barton a very careful, calm man. Upon seeing the German Shepard puppies, however, the little boy in Clint came out. Running at full speed towards the cage, the assassin began freaking out about how cute the little guys were. He stopped in front of the cage and knelt down, starting to talk to the small dogs.

"Their $50 each, a real bargain for pure-breeds" said the old man, smiling down at Clint. The assassin grinned back up at him and then looked down at the three puppies once more. The smallest one was the most vocal, jumping up on the side of the cage, trying to lick Clint. Clint couldn't help but smile down at the little guy, scratching behind his ears. After a few more minutes of petting the smallest puppy, the agent finally agreed to buy him, knowing full-well that he would have a shit-ton of explaining to do.

~Time Skip~

Clint was driving back to the tower, this time with a new side-kick riding shotgun. The puppy sat in the cardboard bow he was given, tail wagging and tongue lolling out the side of his open mouth. Barton couldn't keep the smile off his face, even when "Started From the Bottom" came on. He knew that the other Avengers would be pretty pissed at first, especially Pepper, but they would warm up to the little guy soon enough. He knew for sure that Thor would have no trouble with the fuzz a few minutes later, Clint picked up the puppy in one hand and a bag of toys, food, a bed and a leash that he had bought in the other. With difficulty, the assassin made it to the elevator where he carefully dropped his load with relief.

"Don't worry, little buddy, almost there" said Clint, leaning down to pet the Shepard puppy. Almost as soon as he said it, the door opened with a _ding _and before he could do anything, the hyperactive puppy was in the living room, jumping up on all the Avengers. At once, Thor picked the little guy up and began talking to him, laughing with glee. The others? Not so much. Tony crossed his arms and glared at the archer.

"Really, Legolaus? I've heard of impulse buyers, but this is a bit much". Clint shrugged and put the blue collar he picked out on the tiny puppy. The puppy yipped in excitement at the familiar face and his tail sped up, going a mile a minute. Clint turned and saw the rest of the team casting looks at the puppy, resisting the urge to pet him as well.

"...I thought we could name him Phil..." said Clint, rubbing his hand on the back of his head, not meeting anyone's eyes. Despite having Natasha, Hill and recently the rest of the Avengers to hang out with, Clint was a bit lonely. Phil and him had been friends since both of them were just interns going through training. On off days, they'd practice together or just hang out like bros. And even now, Clint still felt twinges of guilt and shame, part of him still believing that he was the reason why his oldest friend had died.

The silence in the room was overwhelming, threatening to break Clint apart...again. After the New York incident, Clint developed depression, insomnia and PTSD which he still sometimes struggled with. There would be nights where he would just aimlessly wander the halls of the tower, hoping that Fury would call him on a last-minute mission or something. Things had been getting better recently, but there were still moments where the dark feeling inside him would threaten to cave in.

The assassin turned and began walking out the door, feeling his chest tightening. He had seen the puppy as something that could be a companion to him. He had been thinking of training him like a police dog, so that Clint could take him on missions and not feel...empty. As he walked out, he felt an arm hold him back.

"I guess Pepper can get used to him".


End file.
